In a recent Q&A letter from Sean, he discussed remaking Final
Fantasy XI and that got me thinking. Honestly, I don't think Square
Enix would even think about remaking this game like they've done
with some of the older titles, but the potential is there for an
off-line experience and a lot of Final Fantasy fans would jump on
board. The fact that this couldn't be a quick and dirty port would
make it even more unlikely, but with a certain amount of reuse, it
wouldn't be too far-fetched.

My vision of the game would be slightly different and a little
less defined than that of Sean's. It would encompass the entire
Final Fantasy XI world of Vana'diel, including all expansion areas.
However, instead of being completely non-linear, it would contain
the entire main storyline of the initial FFXI missions, weaving
together the story from all three nation's viewpoints, and would
continue on through the expansions and extended missions. The job
system would be maintained, but modified for a single player
experience instead of requiring the multiplayer grinding of the
current online version. There would be no level cap and job
abilities and traits would be balanced and possibly completely
modified for one player. Combat would most likely be somewhat
similar to the real-time combat of FFXI and FFXII; however it would
maintain the six character party of the MMO.

Character development would be a touchy issue. Square Enix could
take the "create your own character" approach that traditional Final
Fantasy XI has were you play as a generic adventurer. This would be
the easiest implementation. However, developing multiple unique
characters and giving them a true place within the world of
Vana'diel would be great for those that have never played Final
Fantasy XI online. This could be an issue if they start messing with
current game lore, but I imagine that it could be easily dealt with
without doing any real damage. The expansion areas could work into
this single player experience in much the same way that the optional
areas of Final Fantasy XII did. You don't have to go there, but the
rewards for doing so are matched by the challenge required.

One of the most exciting features that could be possible would be
the addition of an optional online multiplayer experience. There are
those people that enjoy adventuring with a small group of friends
and that could be featured in this single player version as optional
content for the bonus of additional loot or story. It would of
course only work well if they went with a generic character option,
because even though you would have six characters with jobs of your
own choosing, it would be odd to have two sets of the same
characters. With online content like this, one could easily ask what
the point of the single player game is if you still have online
content. I imagine that having the option of online play without
requiring it would be better than not having it at all. They should
give gamers the option.

I played Final Fantasy XI online for a decent amount of time and
I did enjoy the game. I can completely understand that many fans of
the series avoided this title for many reasons. An off-line version
would help to solve two problems. First, those people that didn't
want to or couldn't play online would be able to experience and
enjoy the world of Final Fantasy XI. Second, and most important to
me, is that people that did play, but couldn't dedicate the time to
experience everything there was to experience would get an
opportunity to do so. Due to the fact that this could easily anger
those that did take the time to play through all of the many
challenges of the online game, this will most likely never happen,
but I can still
dream.